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It started in a cemetery after the Civil War. It took a century to become a federal holiday. Now it’s the last Monday in May, and at 3 p.m., the whole country is asked to stop. Memorial Day is Monday, May 25, 2026. It is a federal holiday, the last Monday in May, and the day the United States sets aside to honor the military personnel who died in service to this country. Not veterans broadly. Not currently serving troops. The fallen, specifically — the more than 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars since the American…

The Board of Peace (BoP) is an international body established at the initiative of US President Donald Trump and formalised through United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2803. Its mandate covers oversight of the Gaza peace process and the channelling of reconstruction funds through the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto signed the BoP charter on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on 22 January 2026, the domestic reaction was swift and sharp. Within days, Indonesia’s most influential Islamic leaders had split into openly competing camps, with the Palestinian question —…

Georges St-Pierre has a message for Conor McGregor, before the former UFC double champion finally returns to the octagon.After a five-year hiatus, “The Notorious” is finally making his UFC return on July 11 at UFC 329, where he will run it back with Max Holloway in the main event.When Holloway and McGregor first locked horns, the Irishman secured a unanimous decision win despite tearing his ACL during the fight. However, this time around, the Dubliner enters as the underdog due to years of inactivity. “Blessed,” on the other hand, has remained extremely active and racked up impressive wins over several…

Airbus Flexrotor and Alpha Unmanned Systems´ A900 on offshore patrol vessel Rayo. Credit: Airbus. The Spanish Navy and Airbus Helicopters have collaborated on a tactical flight trial in Rota, Spain, which saw the integration of the offshore patrol vessel Rayo with the Navy’s H135 helicopter and two uncrewed aerial systems.   The participating drones, Airbus’ Flexrotor and the Alpha Unmanned Systems A900, were managed through the HTeaming solution, offering direct demonstration of coordinated operations between crewed and uncrewed platforms.  Discover B2B Marketing That Performs Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms. Find out more During the exercise, which took…

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle continue to push back on the Trump administration’s cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) agreed that CISA’s current workforce, funding and resource structure are a continued concern, especially in the wake of the use of artificial intelligence to discover previously unknown zero day attacks. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP) “Unfortunately, this administration has weakened CISA in the last year. I don’t think they realize the one-for-one output that they provide on defensive cyber for many of you in here,…

The White House decision to seek about one-quarter of its gargantuan $1.5 trillion defense-spending request as reconciliation funding leaves some of the military’s top priorities—munitions, industrial-base upgrades—up to lawmakers’ appetite for another precedent-breaking budget maneuver.The Army, for example, is asking for $24.5 billion to fund purchases through DOD’s Munitions Acceleration Council, according to budget documents. The service is also asking for $206 million to expand and upgrade its own weapons factories—ten times the amount requested in last year’s reconciliation bill.“We have all of these incredible things that we’re trying to do and move forward, but acceleration is only as good…

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. Subscribe here.Operation Epic Fury may have strengthened the case for directed energy weapons, but the U.S. Navy’s dream of putting “a laser on every ship” may take significantly longer than expected to realize.In a posture statement delivered to the House Armed Services Committee on May 14, Chief of Naval Operations (and noted directed energy champion) Adm. Daryl Caudle delivered a forceful argument for why high-energy laser weapons are a necessity for the sea service — namely, to take over missile…

Before most of Washington was awake May 21, nearly 1,500 soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to begin Flags In, the annual tradition of placing a small American flag at the base of every headstone in the cemetery ahead of Memorial Day weekend. Of the more than 260,000 graves at Arlington, every one gets a flag. The soldiers work in organized groups moving section by section across the cemetery’s 639 acres, pulling flags from their backpacks, placing each one exactly one boot length in front of and centered on the headstone. The flags must…

People’s Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:37, May 21, 2026 JERUSALEM, May 20 (Xinhua) — Israel said late Tuesday that it had intercepted all boats in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, detaining hundreds of activists and transporting them to Israel. Organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said on their website that all boats in their humanitarian convoy were intercepted after Israeli naval vessels surrounded them in international waters, about 250 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza. They said that 428 activists were “kidnapped” by Israel. Israel began intercepting the ships on Monday morning. Around midnight Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in…

People’s Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:08, May 21, 2026 WASHINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration is “in final stages of” peace talks with Iran and is willing to wait a few days for the “right answer.” “We’re in the final stages of Iran,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll see what happens.” “We’ll either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty. But hopefully that won’t happen,” he added. The president claimed he is in “no hurry” to finalize a peace agreement with Iran, suggesting that…